Witness Relocation

Witness Relocation formed in 2000 and is led by director/choreographer Dan Safer. The company is ensemble based and makes shows ranging from fully scripted plays to original, devised dance/theater pieces to many things in between. Based in New York City, they are recognized as one of the “ensembles who now lead the city’s progressive theater scene” (Village Voice), and are the recipients of three New York Innovative Theater Awards. Witness Relocation performs frequently in dance and theater venues internationally. In NYC and across the US, these include La MaMa, Dance New Amsterdam, The Ontological/Incubator, The Bushwick Starr, NYC Summer Stage, Dixon Place, CATCH!, CSV, The Ohio Theater, Dancespace Project, Solar One, American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, MA, Fuse Box in Austin, TX, Bumbershoot in Seattle, WA, Revolutions in Albuquerque, NM, Fury Factory in San Francisco, CA, and Out of Hand in Atlanta, GA. Internationally, the company has performed in France at Theatre de Chaillot, Paris, Les Subsistances, Lyon, and Le Quartz, Brest; in Poland at the Manggha Museum, Krakow and the Silesian Dance Theater Festival, Bytom; in Russia at the Open Look Festival, St. Petersburg; in Romania at Man.in.Fest, Cluj-Napoca; in Canada at the Dancing On The Edge Festival in Vancouver, BC; and in Thailand at Patravadi Theater, Bangkok.

Witness Relocation combines dance and theater with the energy of a rock show, exploding contemporary culture into intensely physical outrageous, poetic, and sometimes brutal performances about the fact that, when it comes down to it, you just don't have to be an asshole.

Dan Safer

Dan Safer originally hails from the wild suburbs of New Jersey and has directed and choreographed every WR show ever. He recently choreographed and co-directed the acclaimed “Ubu Sings Ubu” with Tony Torn and Julie Atlas Muz. Beside Witness Relocation shows, his work as a choreographer has been seen at the BAM, DTW, St. Mark’s Church and the Ash Lawn Opera. He has choreographed plays, operas, rock videos, fashion shows, and films. In 2011, he choreographed Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" for Philadelphia Orchestra with the Obie-winning New York based Ridge Theater. He was a 2007- 9 recipient of the Six Points Fellowship (Performance) and has won two NY Innovative Theater Awards. Artforum Magazine called him "pure expressionistic danger" and Time Out NY called him "a purveyor of lo-fi mayhem." He is the Head of Movement Training at NYU/ Playwrights Horizons Theater School and a frequent teacher at The Norwegian Theater Academy. He used to be a go-go dancer and once choreographed the Queen of Thailand’s Birthday Party.